Substantial grant to Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute

Substantial grant to Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute

The International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding is named after Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former President of Iceland and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, and operates under the auspices of UNESCO.

The Danish A.P. Møller foundation has granted over a hundred million Icelandic krona to the University of Iceland’s Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Institute of Foreign Languages. The grant will be used for the construction of a new a new building on campus for the Language Centre and other operations of the Institute. The new building will be located in Suðurgata.

The International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding is named after Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former President of Iceland and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, and operates under the auspices of UNESCO. This is an ambitious international endeavour and has been presented all over the world; seeking domestic and international support.

The board of A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond for almene Formaal recently decided to allocate over a 100 million Icelandic Krona to this project. This is the second time the board allocates a substantial grant to the Institute; in total over 200 million IKr; making them the largest donor apart from the University itself. The grant is vitally important now that construction of the new building is in the pipe line.

Domestic parties have contributed generously to this endeavour; individuals, companies, associations, the government and the City of Reykjavík as well as the University of Iceland Lottery. Almost 300 million krona are still needed to complete funding for the new building. Organisers are optimistic that they will succeed in procuring the funds; as the goal is that the construction will be complete in 2015, on the centennial of Icelandic women’s suffrage.

The building will house facilities for teaching and research in the fourteen foreign languages taught at the UoI as well as facilities for guest researches and international collaborators. Furthermore, an experience centre will be founded where everyone can learn about different languages and cultures in a varied and lively fashion. Besides the honour of being certified by UNESCO; the project creates various opportunities in research and innovation; especially in cultural tourism, communication of research and the knowledge industry. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, emphasised the importance of The World Language Centre – Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding in important in a global context in her speech at the University of Iceland earlier this summer.